Category: Poetry

Possibly Sparrows

I sit on a Saturday morning,
sipping tea that is rapidly cooling.
(There used to be a name for that;
a sound that these days is returning.)

There are little brown birds in the leafy bush.
They’re hopping and chittering and, as a human,
it is easy to imagine they’re friends,
gallivanting among the branches.

It is quiet on this Saturday morning,
with the tea cooling on the borrowed desk
and a soft-voiced parliamentarian
intoning the words of a long-dead poet.

The dog paces again past the closed door,
nails clicking on the linoleum,
as I sit at this borrowed desk,
carefully tracing my feelings

with a cup of tea cooling at my elbow
and the sound of the poet’s words in my ears
and a slight discomfort under my left leg
where the cushion has lost its spring.

I, though, have regained my spring;
have found myself dancing around rooms
when no one else is at home as the kettle whistles
from the kitchen to say it’s time for tea.

/ / /

18 February 2023
State College PA

Eternal

He sent a song to this friend,
a book recommendation to that one.
To another he suggested a blend of tea,
and to another, a movie he’d cried over.
Little by little these seed packets
traveled out into his universe,
occasionally taking root in the soul
of a loved one, who years later
would put on an album on an autumn day
and be cheered by the music and
would remember him, and in this way,
he became eternal.

/ / /

13 February 2023
State College PA

A Basic Guide To Dealing With Other People In This Modern World Of Ours

shuffle your toes to the edge
feel the yawning space below
is that a bird in the distance?
reach out one hand
take one step forward
whoosh!

/ / /

12 February 2023
State College PA

Iceberg

Night:
James sings “Laid”
on repeat.
Ten minutes, twenty,
half an hour, more.
Searching a dark room
for the sole source of light:
encased in a glistening iceberg,
the carpet wet from melting.
I press my heart to the ice,
feel the cold seep past
my rib cage, hear the cracking.
That snare drum again and again,
the falsetto, his sensuous hands.
Finally an opening;
it fits my arm.
I push in
to the elbow,
the shoulder,
my skin sliding along the ice.
My fingers close
around a tongue of flame.
Still the sound of the guitar.
Still the sound of the guitar.
“This bed is on fire…”
The flames spread up my legs,
to my hips, my chest.
I dance, bare feet
on the ice-cooled carpet.
“This bed is on fire…”
The falsetto, the hands,
the hips, the drums,
the melting of the ice,
the fire.

/ / /

5 February 2023
State College PA

Exposure

An Instagram astrologer
says Virgos are hard to love,
reluctant to open up,
guarded & managerial.
Not one word of this
applies to me,
born on September 10
with my heart uncovered.
I am not a manager.
There are no bosses here.
Only that same heart
scarred & older.
I gave it as a gift
under a late-summer sky.
It was returned to me,
damaged.
If I sit quietly I can hear
the rush of blood
like a subway train
under a sidewalk.
Mind the gap.

/ / /

2 February 2023
State College PA

By Calvin Klein, Almost

he is writing his little words
thinking his little thoughts
obsessed! says Gen Z
or whomever
or is it whoever
whomever, almost certainly
“Furry Sings The Blues”
is playing on the turntable
or it would be
if he owned a turntable
or a copy of the album
instead he sips a hot cup
of imported green tea
actually that’s not true either
& so he writes his little words
& thinks his little thoughts
obsessed!

/ / /

2 February 2023
State College PA

Birthday

today we’ll have
no cake
no candles
no balloons
no party hats
no presents
no wrapping paper
no singing
no silent wishes
no paper plates
no plastic forks
no noise makers
no confetti
no jolly good fellows
no and many mores
no laughter
no tears

and yet
and yet
and yet

/ / /

31 January 2023
State College PA